Episode 3 Great Expectations

'I am in love with Estella.'

We were told she was the orphaned child of friends but no friends

anyone had ever heard of.

-Who are you?

-I am a gentleman.

-Oh, but you're not.

Any more than she is a lady.

Mrs!

Your room's the same from when you left. I put sheets on the bed.

No, Joe, I can't stay.

Compeyson was a con-man, Pip.

On the day of the wedding,

he sent her a note and was never seen again.

You have bills at your club.

They're not unpaid, they're just not paid yet. But they will be.

-Who are you?

-Abel Magwitch.

It's me that is your benefactor. You're my gentleman, Pip.

Beautiful, ain't it?

Pick it up, it's yours.

Feel it. Smell it.

That'll set you up for life, boy.

I don't understand.

What's to understand?

You've come of age and here's what you were promised,

what you've been waiting on!

It ain't complicated!

How did you find me?

You didn't take no finding.

I've had my eyes on you the whole while.

Jaggers sent back his reports.

This can't be true, this can't... It can't be you.

I never forgot you, Pip.

You been in there since that first day. I never forgot you.

DOOR OPENS

It's my friend Herbert! Please!

You trust 'im?

With my life! Please! I'm begging you.

-You Pip's friend.

-Herbert Pocket. Delighted to meet you.

Are you going to be my friend, Herbert Pocket?

-Do you know how to keep that shut?

-Yes, sir.

Good man.

Now you take that down to the bank tomorrow.

We don't want no criminals thieving it off you, do we?

I ain't putting you out?

No, no. Not at all. I'm a married man now.

I don't live here any more.

Oh, what happened before.

It won't happen again. I apologise for that.

Mr Magwitch, forgive my impertinence but

how long do you intend to stay in London?

I've come home for good.

You must be exhausted. Sleep well.

DOOR CLOSES

-Pip, we have a very serious problem.

-What are you doing here?

Clara's papa got so drunk

he forgot we're married and chased me away with a stick.

Clara said I should come here until she can talk to him.

Pip, your benefactor is a returned lifer.

We have to consider very carefully what we do now.

He is not my benefactor. You said, it's Miss Havisham.

-I presumed and so did you. We were both wrong.

-He's lying.

-He knows Jaggers, where you live, everything about you.

-Listen.

Someone has been following me.

-What do you mean, followed?

-Someone just behind me, watching.

It's him. That's how he knows.

He's come back, Pip! Do you know what the penalty is?

We cannot discuss this with anyone else,

we have to think of what to do.

It can't be him.

-This is a hoax, I can prove it.

-Pip!

Pippity-Pip.

What are you doing here?

Deadly mausoleum, this. Can you smell it?

Rot. Decay.

People who don't take care for their property should be shot in my book.

-I said, what are you doing here?

-She stands to inherit it.

Which makes it mine.

Well, I will burn it to the ground.

What did you say?

A woman's inheritance belongs to her husband.

He can do what he likes with her goods.

No.

-She's telling the old woman now of my formal intentions.

-No. No.

A quick wedding and then I will remove my wife from London

and the host of undesirables that cluster about her.

No. She'd never wed you.

Wed me? How quaint. Voice really slipped there, Pippy. Slippy Pippy.

Go on, say something else. Amuse me.

Say something in that real voice of yours. It's so entertaining.

To the victor the spoils.

Pip, this is private.

Let him speak, Jaggers.

Don't. Not him. Don't.

I did warn you.

-No, you didn't.

-I did. You just weren't listening.

You're meant to marry me.

And when was this decided?

Since always! This is what it's been for, being a gentleman, for you!

Marry me. I love you, I've always loved you.

You were meant to. Everyone's meant to love me.

But I don't love back. I do not have a heart.

I will write.

And I will answer. As ever. Goodbye, Pip.

No, I won't let you do it!

You do not have a say in the matter.

I don't believe you. You kissed me.

I was practising on you. As I was from the very beginning.

Is that not right, Mother?

You brought him here for me to practise on?

Remove your hand. You're staining the silk.

Why do you look away, Mother?

Is this not your training made manifest? Does it not please you?

I said, does it not please you!

It pleases me.

I told you I could make you cry.

If only you had listened.

The agony is exquisite, is it not?

The broken heart.

You think you will die, but you just keep living...

..day, after day, after terrible day.

You have to stop her. He is cruel and arrogant.

He is perfect.

Hand-picked for exactly those reasons.

But she will break him.

He will not have a day's happiness.

His nights spent weeping.

His world a cold and joyless stone.

Is this your revenge?

You think Bentley Drummle will care if his wife does not love him?

You know nothing about men, Miss Havisham.

I know what savages they are.

He will take what he wants and do as he pleases.

And Estella has no-one to protect her.

She will triumph.

Expedite these quickly.

I do not want the wedding delayed for any reason.

You, marry my prize?

What in heaven's name made you think she was meant for you?

You did. You let me think you were my benefactor.

You told me Estella could only ever marry a gentleman

and I was made a gentleman.

You knew I thought it was you.

You are not a gentleman. You are not even a blacksmith.

You did not finish your apprenticeship.

You are merely the boy from the forge.

I gather you have had communication from New South Wales?

I got the news in person.

He's in London?

What do I do?

I cannot advise you on this.

It must be kept away from me. Right away.

-I've been waiting for you. I have to take you somewhere.

-Where?

What are we doing here?

-Herbert has arranged a hiding place.

-For me? From Magwitch?

No. A hiding place for him. He has your portable property.

As it stands, the property is a little too portable for my liking.

If he is caught with it, the Crown will confiscate every last penny.

That makes me quite dyspeptic, but he will only put it into your hand.

-Caught?

-Events have moved very fast.

I heard of a return this morning.

All of Newgate was bubbling with it.

There are eyes watching the ports for those such as him.

Now a reward has been offered, the watching eyes will be ever sharper.

We must get him safely from the country.

He got himself here, he can get out again. He doesn't need my help.

He is a lifer who has defied the law.

There will be no plea, no mitigation, not even a hearing.

He will hang.

This is going to take a little time and there are no guarantees

but we will do all we can to get you out.

I'll start my own Newgate rumours that you've been seen in Southampton

which may draw the soldiers and other interested parties away.

Herbert is going to use his contacts

to find a suitable ship with an amenable captain.

Who would put a price on my head after all these years?

Who would care?

A man named Denby.

I don't know no Denby

and why would he put a reward on my head?

We know a Mr Denby. He's a member of our club, Finches.

-I don't recall him.

-You do. He runs all the card games.

He has a scar just... under his eye.

Compeyson.

-Compeyson.

-If you go after him, you will be caught.

You cannot risk it, everything you hoped for

-will be gone.

-Stop talking, Mr Wemmick.

What price did he put on me?

A thousand pounds. I imagine he always anticipated this day.

He flatters himself if he thinks I've come all this way for him.

If I go, does he still get everything I hoped for?

He does.

-No trouble to him, no danger.

-Not if we're circumspect, no.

All right.

You make your plans.

I'll start looking straightaway.

I must emphasise, Mr Magwitch, that you remain out of sight and silent

until you're away and clear -

the shadow of the noose hangs heavy over you.

Has done since I was born, Mr Wemmick.

This is not how I wanted it, Pip.

You've got to believe me,

this is not how I planned it.

You should have stayed in New South Wales.

Pip.

A moment, please, Herbert.

-You must accept the property.

-I don't want anything from him.

Might I remind you, you still owe Clarrikers

a substantial sum for Herbert's partnership?

Yes, I'll find it, but I'm not taking his money.

Can that really be the same Compeyson,

the man who ruined Miss Havisham?

Why would he change his name if he were not a villain?

What could there be between them?

Who knows?

Money. Some criminal enterprise gone sour.

Perhaps Magwitch has changed.

I've spent more time with him than you have.

All his concern was for you, not for his own safety.

-People do not just change!

-We both did.

And for what? What did I do all that for?

It has all been for nothing.

Estella is marrying Bentley Drummle.

Dear God.

HE SIGHS

I'm very sorry about Estella.

You travelled some distance to discover that you were not wanted.

Magwitch came from the end of the world to find the same.

We cannot turn our backs on him now.

We will see this through together but see it through, we must.

Pip, every scoundrel in London will be chasing that reward.

Men will turn into wolves

and tear each other to shreds for a glass of gin.

What will they do for a thousand pounds?

Sir.

-Sir, sir...

-No, really.

DOOR UNLOCKING

Come back!

Go over here.

KNOCKING

It's Pip.

I was hasty.

Compeyson was the second man on the marshes.

-I tried killing him that night. I should have tried harder.

-Why?

He owes me.

Were you partners?

-What are you asking for?

-I need to know.

Once.

And this once, did you hear of a Miss Havisham of Satis House?

Should I?

That turns your guts, don't it?

You think I murdered for that? I've taken lives for less.

-I don't know what you did to get it.

-No, you don't.

Why me? Why do this for me? Because I stole you a file?

I only did that because I was scared.

-You said you'd cut my throat.

-I know what I said.

And it weren't the file, it was the pie.

I'd forgotten about the pie.

The file you took because you was scared, but...

..that pie...

that was out of goodness.

Did you think that I'd be grateful?

You take me away from my home, I turn my back on my family

for some mystery benefactor and it turns out to be you.

I don't recall stipulatin' you turn your back on your own.

If you did, it's down to you, don't bring this to my door!

You've made a mess of it, ain't you?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

Well, that makes two of us.

So here we are with a mess.

No. I can't. No, I don't want to. I can't.

Compose yourself, my dear.

BELL TOLLS

There.

Aren't you exquisite?

Other men take their work home with them,

but Chambers will never get a foot in the door at Walworth.

It'll be over by now.

Maybe Mr Jaggers raised an objection.

You're asked, aren't you, if anybody has any objection, to speak?

Maybe Jaggers spoke.

He is Miss Havisham's proxy.

He will abide by her wishes.

There is some brandy somewhere.

DOOR CLOSES

I told you not to go. You should not have been there!

But you can't tell me what to do and where to go!

-Look, you ain't the master of me!

-Molly...

You said she'd be taken care of.

You made promises.

It's beyond my control.

DOOR SLAMS SHUT

FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING

They've been sent back, Miss.

SOBBING

Estella!

Lazy, ignorant...

The truth is, there's not one ship going out whose captain I trust.

We cannot just give up.

I'm not giving up.

I just don't know if I'm going to find a ship before I go to Cairo.

I wish I had better news.

I did say there were no guarantees.

I have absolute faith in Herbert.

I'm sure that will sustain him when Clarrikers let him go.

They demand the full sum. You have to accept your portable property.

I can't.

Magwitch wants me to be a son to him. I can't be that.

If I take his money, then I'm deceiving him.

I'll sell all this.

You cannot sell what you do not own.

The full sum for Clarrikers...

or Herbert loses everything.

There's a gentleman here to see you, sir. Most urgent.

Excuse me.

Where is he?

Who are you?

It's a sharp night tonight, even for us what's used to it.

How keen it must seem for them returned from hotter climes.

Where is he?

Us don't know that yet.

Then what good are you?

Us knows where he's been.

Us knows who to watch to get to him.

Who?

And how rich are you goin' to make Old Orlick, then?

You find what I'm looking for

and you'll have beef and brandy every day

and a different whore every night.

Miss Havisham?

What are you doing here?

You are not invited.

Where is Hannah?

I sent her away.

You cannot live here alone.

I am the lady of the house. I shall do as I please.

I will have you removed.

What do you want?

I have to ask you for something.

I wish I could ask anyone else, but I can't.

You want money.

It is not for me.

Why should I give you money? You have done very well out of me.

You and Estella both have done very well,

and I have suffered.

Have you heard from Estella?

She left me.

I took her in as an orphan,

I gave her everything,

and this is how she repays me,

by leaving me.

You have had a wasted journey. You will get nothing from me.

I could have made her so happy. We were meant for each other.

This house could have been full of children. You could have been happy.

No.

Don't touch me.

Remember your place.

I want you to go.

If I give you money, will you leave?

Yes. If that's what you want.

Very well.

What is the required amount?

£350, made payable to Mr Clarriker.

Do you not want to know what it is for?

Thank you, Miss Havisham.

I have hurt you.

I wanted to hurt you.

I wanted to hurt everybody.

You forgive me?

Forgive me.

I forgive you, Miss Havisham.

DOOR CLOSES

Come here.

What?

I wish you had not come back because of me.

I wish you had your own family, your own child to give all this to

rather than being in such danger from Compeyson, all because of me.

Do you know how he got this?

Did you give it to him?

Not me, no.

My wife did.

Compeyson had a fancy for her.

I was away in the North so he thought he'd try on his luck.

She marked him for his troubles.

He had her taken for attempted murder.

I come home,

hear my wife's in Newgate...

my child left alone without a mother's protection, dead of fever,

dead and gone, buried in a common pit without a prayer said.

I try to hunt him down...

but he's off...

until...

we get tried for a crime we both did.

I get transportation, he gets two years' soft time.

They think he's a gentleman

who's made a mistake with the company he keeps.

I get chained. He don't.

That long march to the Hulks, he knows I'll do him in.

So he goes over the side to get away from me,

I go after him to rip his black heart out through his lyin' mouth.

And that's where you come in, Pip.

Did you think this was just a felon's dispute?

A little bit of nothing?

Your wife, did she hang?

No, Jaggers was for her.

It was Jaggers who told me about my family.

Because he saved my wife from the drop,

I decided he should have the care of you.

So you see, I did have a child and then I didn't.

And what's left, you fill it up with...

drinkin', fightin' and bein' worse than you was before.

And then I filled it up with you.

Sheep.

It's all from sheep.

It's good wool, good meat.

I worked so bloody hard.

I thought if I could do good by you, I could do good by her.

-You had a daughter.

-She was...

..she was a beautiful little girl.

Her and Molly,

they deserved better than me.

Wait!

Mr Wemmick, would you close the door?

Estella's father is Abel Magwitch.

You told him his child was dead.

I did what was best.

She had a new name, a new life. She was settled.

And that is Estella's mother who you saved from the noose.

Did you take her case because she was beautiful?

So the inscrutable Jaggers is a man like any other.

And what did you ask for in lieu of payment?

Because she is not your housekeeper, is she?

And she owes you her life.

She owes me nothing.

She came of her own free will, she stays of her own free will.

No wonder you wanted Magwitch kept away from you.

The fear of being discovered, that you stole his daughter.

All those secrets laid bare.

You have not seen children so young, so tiny in court...

..they have to be lifted up so the judge can see them to pass sentence.

Children, imprisoned, transported...

..dying on those ships,

or on those streets, or in those cells or at the end of a rope,

the result is always the same.

Dead before they have a chance of life.

And here is an innocent child with a mother in prison

-and a father nowhere to be found.

-He knew none of it.

She was still alone.

And here is a wealthy client who asks me to find a girl

she can raise as her own.

Stolen?

Saved.

Saved?

She is married to Bentley Drummle.

Even I cannot look into the future.

What damage would the truth do now?

To everyone?

Some secrets are best left.

Time you went.

Herbert has found a ship that sails tomorrow night for the Cape.

The Captain can be trusted.

Herbert did him a favour,

Captain's happy to repay it by looking the other way.

You've always known everything, haven't you?

I'm Mr Jaggers' chief clerk.

Tomorrow night, Pip,

you have to get Magwitch ready.

SHOUTING

The Cape.

Yes.

I swore I was done with boats.

At least this time I won't be chained.

Can I come with you?

I can't go home, not after the things I've said,

the things I've done.

I have to start again.

D'you get seasick?

I don't know.

Well, if you do, stand downwind of me.

"My dearest Joe,

"I'm sorry I don't have the courage to say this to you in person.

"I'm going away.

"Not forever, but for a while.

"I will return a better man

"who can look you in the eye and beg your pardon

"for having treated you as no loving son should ever treat his father.

"Until then, you will always be in my heart."

I should've drowned you when you first come to the forge.

Squallin', 'orrible brat you was. Always in Orlick's way.

Should've drowned you like a runt puppy.

It was you following me.

Magwitch shall dance for them, but you're mine.

I shall stove in your skull like I did your sister's.

You ain't going to be in Orlick's way no more.

I'll disappear you piece by piece.

Joe will think you forgot about him altogether.

But it won't matter because I'll be there.

This is where you need to get to, the London Stone.

It's the end of the city's jurisdiction.

Past that, you're a free man, cannot be touched.

Now, it's a distance, use the tide and you can make it.

BELL TOLLS

When you get beyond the Stone, you wait.

At midnight, the Crown Princess will come through, cut her engines

and drop a ladder starboard.

Then you're away.

At the same time, we'll be boarding our steamer for Cairo,

but the only thing we'll be thinking about is you.

Let's go.

I'll never forget what you've done for us. Never.

Herbert.

What would I have become if I'd not met you?

The London Stone has a beacon.

You cannot miss it.

Write to us.

I'll be afraid until I hear all is well.

Go, you need the tide to help you. Go.

HORSE WHINNIES

SHOUTING

Get away! Get away!

Tie the reins! Tie the reins!

Somebody call for help.

Thank you.

You all right, Pip.

No regrets?

Only one and there's nothing I can do about it.

It's the London Stone. We're there!

You're a free man, Magwitch.

Yeah.

Pull.

What are you doing? We're nearly there.

It's moving.

Hard about!

Magwitch, what are you doing?

It's him.

I know it.

Quickly!

You be lucky, Pip.

Magwitch!

-Magwitch!

-Don't move. Don't move!

Get him here! Pull him in!

Get him in!

-No!

-Don't move.

Please.

Stop it, you'll kill him.

No!

KNOCKING AT DOOR

Mr Pirrip? Borrit from the Bailiffs.

Come to recoup.

Help yourself.

Move yourself.

In there.

Let him in.

HE GASPS

GRUNTING

And the rest.

Pip.

'There has to be some leniency for Magwitch, he's dying.'

They cannot hang a dying man.

It's decided. His sentence is set.

He cannot walk. Is he to be dragged to the gallows through the crowds?

It's just the way it is, Pip, it's just the law.

Then the law's a bastard.

The rooms are all cleared. Present yourself at the bailiff's.

-There's still a pound owing.

-I don't have it.

Have you got the money?

Is the money safe?

Yes.

Get some horses. You've got to have horses.

I'll get a coach and four.

High-steppers - everyone will look.

They're coming for me, ain't they?

They are.

They shan't have me.

Abel, can you hear me?

Look, squeeze my hand if you can hear me.

Your little girl didn't die.

She's alive.

I know who she is.

She was adopted by a rich lady.

She grew up so beautiful.

But believe me, she lives.

And she's loved.

I love her.

I always have and always will.

Look, can you hear me, Abel?

She's so very loved.

Where will you go now?

To hand myself in to the bailiff.

It's been paid.

I wrote to Mr Gargery, he sent a guinea.

Joe paid it?

There's, uh...

..a shilling over.

I wish you good fortune, Pip.

Anything but that, Mr Wemmick.

CLANGING OF METAL

There's a shilling over.

A guinea, Joe.

It's all you would have had.

I don't deserve it.

I don't deserve you.

There, there.

Best of friends as ever we were.

PIP SOBS

Whoa!

Ah, Pip.

Trainee Commissioner for Oaths.

Ink and dust.

Your poor sister would have wept at the waste.

People will always need the law.

But as one family star falls,

another is in the ascendant.

Satis House has renewed its weekly order.

Mrs Drummle has come back.

And come back a widow.

She inherits two fortunes!

Pumblechook is a grocer of quality to the quality once more!

Walk on, Jen.

Good girl!

That's it. Good girl, good girl.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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